The gentle — the penetrating wind, mild but persistent influence.
Steady, gentle influence reaches where force cannot, like wind seeping everywhere. Achieve through repeated mild action and clear, consistent direction. Persistence, not pressure, prevails.
gentlenesspersistenceinfluenceadaptability
The Gentle (Wind) places Wind (gentle, penetrating) above Wind (gentle, penetrating). The interplay of these two trigrams gives the hexagram its character.
The Classical Textoriginal Chinese
The Judgment · 卦辞
小亨，利有攸往，利见大人。
The Image · 大象
随风，巽；君子以申命行事。
The Six Lines · 爻辞
- 初六进退，利武人之贞。象曰：进退，志疑也。利武人之贞，志治也。
- 九二巽在床下，用史巫纷若，吉无咎。象曰：纷若之吉，得中也。
- 九三频巽，吝。象曰：频巽之吝，志穷也。
- 六四悔亡，田获三品。象曰：田获三品，有功也。
- 九五贞吉悔亡，无不利。无初有终，先庚三日，后庚三日，吉。象曰：九五之吉，位正中也。
- 上九巽在床下，丧其资斧，贞凶。象曰：巽在床下，上穷也。丧其资斧，正乎凶也。
The judgment, image and line texts above are quoted from the original Zhou Yi. A modern Chinese translation of the full classic is available on the original-text page.